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Wednesday August 16, 2000 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER B1 OFFICIAL MEDIA SPO N SO R OF TH E OAKVILLE WATERFRONT FESTIVAL Focus 4 ^ H O O p E K ' S i wSfiicn [ 2 k m O d k » i lie* W a te r/rtm t BALANCE BARS Ass't flavours -While quantities last Oakville Beaver Focus Editor: WILMA BLOKHUIS 845-3824 Ext: 250; Fax: 337-5567; Email: blokhuis@ hattonsearch.com By Wilma Blokhuis BEAVER FOCUS EDITOR lizabeth Carmichael has come full circle, and has seen it all. Since B 'y immigrating to Canada 12 years S j ago from Venezuela, she's lived in Oakville, Halton Hills and Mississauga. "And, now I'm right back where I started, in Oakville," she muses. She moved back to Oakville earlier this year. "I left in June 1988 because the political and economical situation was going downhill in Venezuela," she says of her decision to come to Canada. Three years later she became a Canadian citizen. "Besides, my brother had been here for years already, and my sister was also already here." Despite the option of being `sponsored into Canada' by a sibling, Carmichael chose to immi grate independently, having enough points to qualify. "I already had the language and the work experience." A few months after she first arrived in Oakville, she volunteered for the Halton Multicultural Council, then known as the Oakville Multicultural Council. Being of Spanish descent, bom in Trinidad and raised in Venezuela, she represented the Spanish speaking community. Educated in England, Carmichael is also fluent in English, and adds "I can also understand French, but I don't speak it very well." Through her involvement with the Oakville Multicultural Council, she met the late Heinz Dorst, a German immigrant, and moved to Halton Hills. Carmichael and Dorst, who died of cancer two years ago, lived common-law for eight years, and are co-founders of the North Halton Cultural Awareness Council, of which she remains its chair. This group works closely with schools, police, and community organizations, creating awareness with its anti-discrimination message. "We formed it in response to a visit from the KKK, the Ku Klux Klan, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in January 1993. They came in their white gowns and headgear, spreading their mes sage (of white supremacy) to Georgetown and Acton. They had freedom of expression.. . " And, so does Carmichael, who is not afraid to speak out against racism. Bom of mixed race - her mother has a Venezuelan, Spanish, East Indian and Irish back ground and her father is East Indian and Caribbean ("black, Chinese you name it") - she has stared racism in the face and has overcome it. In Venezuela, she worked as an administrative B j COMING HOME Photo by Peter C. McCusker Elizabeth Carmichael has come full circle, and baek to Oakville. assistant at large multinational corporations for 25 years, including Shell Oil, Proctor & Gamble, Clairol, IBM and Union Carbide. "When I came to Canada, I came full of dreams and high expectations because of what had been told me at the Canadian Embassy in Caracas, that jobs were exceptional and very easy to get. "When I actually arrived and began looking for work it was terrible - yes, there were jobs, but at what level? Your education and experience was not recognized or even acknowledged. "One person actually told me: `Elizabeth, you are now in Canada, and all you can aspire is to be a clerk . . Frustrated by a fruitless job search, Carmichael decided to devote herself to volun teer work in the areas of human rights and antidiscrimination, "which is now my passion." "It was frustrating because my non-Canadian experience was not being recognized, and how could you acquire Canadian (work) experience when no one gives you that chance." Hence Carmichael got involved with human rights, fighting racism and inequality. She currently freelances as a cultural and lan guage interpreter, and translator, explaining that the language of a newcomer from Spain may be the same as that for a Spanish speaking individ ual from Venezuela, but their cultures are differ ent. "It's not enough to only understand and translate the language. "Sadly, too many of the agencies in Halton are still not prepared enough to handle different cul tures. We still hear too many comments - `Your are now in Canada, so just do what we do . . `T his is correct from a legal point of view, but we should also be sensitive and recognize the perception from where that women is coming · from. Just because she might be black, does not mean that a black from Africa will react the same way as a black from the Caribbean or a black from the United States. These are three complete ly different cultures and we should so recognize and respect this." Carmichael feels a new immigrant woman's rights may be violated due to a language and cul tural barriers, leaving her with everything from limited job opportunities to difficulties in obtain ing medical care in their own language to leaving her vulnerable to domestic violence. "Linguistic isolation leaves many women vul nerable to assault," she says, adding "assault is to be kept within the family" to a point where going to a shelter or seek help will result in her family "losing face. In some cultures, a woman will stay in a bad marriage just to save face" because of cultural pressure. `T heir community and religious views on the sanctity of marriage and the preservation of the family unit hold strong in many immigrant cul tures. It would be a disgrace to the family if other individuals were called on to help. Mutual respect, interdependence, shared responsibility for the family enterprise is very much a part of the system in most Third World countries, where these immigrants come from." Once settled in Canada, Carmichael got involved with Amnesty International. "Things really struck me when I read Amnesty International's reports about Venezuela. I started crying because I had become so passionate about it. Human rights has really become my passion." (S e e `L e a v in g V e n e z u e la . . . ' p a g e B 3) T H E BEST OF P A I t A P ISO THIS WEEKEND IS A C E L E B R A T I O N OF Y O U . You sit in surroundings that represent a labour o f love; a love o f food. M ichael K illip, our chef, and I share a v is io n o f serving good food w ithout pretension. M ichael's G reek heritage and m y Italian roots have led to a natural evolution that features M editerranean Cuisine. T h e heart and soul o f M editerranean cooking is fresh, high quality food prepared in ways that highlight the natural flavours. Few o f life Pi easures rival those generated when we YOU W H O HAVE SUPPORTED AN D ENCOURAGED OUR P A S S I O N FOR F O O D . WE W I L L F E A T U R E A SPECIAL M ENU H IG H LIG H TIN G YOUR FAVORITES OVER TH E LAST EIGHT YEARS. com bine goo d food and good company. We hop that Paradiso bring you such Pi easure Ju lia H anna ALL OUR GUESTS W I L L BE G R E E T E D W ITH A COM PLIM ENTARY BELLINI C O C K T A IL A N D WILL FIN ISH T H El R M E A L W I T H H O M E M A D 'E B I S C O T T I AN D BAKALAVA.